In order to provide information on a present state, or control operation of a refrigerator, a related art refrigerator is provided with a control panel on an outside surface of a door, having a display unit, such as an LCD window, and an input unit, such as various buttons.
The display unit displays the present state of the refrigerator, such as a freezing chamber temperature, a refrigerating chamber temperature, a service state of a dispenser (for an example, whether the dispenser dispenses water, or ice), and so on.
According to this, the user can know a state of the refrigerator from the display unit.
The input unit is provided for the user to set the freezing chamber temperature, the refrigerating chamber temperature, and the service state of the dispenser, to enable the user to make operation of the refrigerator to a state the user desires.
Therefore, the user can set or change the freezing chamber temperature, the refrigerating chamber temperature, and the service state of the dispenser by using the input unit.
FIG. 1 illustrates a control panel of a related art refrigerator, schematically.
A display unit on the control panel is an LCD window, for displaying a service mode of the dispenser (ice cubes, water, or ice pieces), the freezing chamber temperature, the refrigerating chamber temperature, and so on.
The input unit on the control panel is provided with various kinds of buttons, such as dispenser buttons, a freezing chamber button, a refrigerating chamber button, for setting or changing the service mode of the dispenser, the freezing chamber temperature, and the refrigerating chamber temperature.
However, the related art refrigerator can only provide inside information, such as the present stale of the refrigerator, but can not provide various outside information other than the inside information.
For an example, in a case the user needs information on weather while the user is in a kitchen wherein the refrigerator is installed, since the user is required to obtain the information from media, such as a TV, or radio, mostly provided in a space other than the kitchen, the process is cumbersome and ineffective.